How I went from zero experience to Salesforce Application Architect in 18 months

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Adam Walker

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Before I started at 4C, I vividly remember one Sunday night in 2015, faced with the dread of going into work on Monday morning and realising that I had stopped progressing and learning as fast as I wanted to.

It was at this point that I decided I wanted to take a risk and pursue a totally different direction from the path I’d been on. With hindsight, sending a speculative email to the CEO of 4C UK was one of the best decisions I have made as 18 months later, I would become a 10x Certified Salesforce Application Architect.

4C have played a huge role in where I am today

I joined the team as a Solutions Consultant with a background in Sales. I was instantly impressed by the collegiate nature of the business and how approachable everyone who worked there was – regardless of their level. Learning a new skill from scratch can be challenging, but I can honestly say I’ve never had so much fun doing it.

Within months of joining, my managers helped me secure a few key Salesforce Certifications and started assigning me to larger more complex projects. After just 6 months of being in the company, I was promoted to Team Leader. I was now responsible for teaching a small team of consultants what I had learnt.

Despite managing a team, my technical development did not slow down. My managers continued to support and encourage me to take my Salesforce knowledge to further heights and within 12 months, I had started to progress my programmatic knowledge and attained the Platform Developer 1 accreditation – a total of 6 certifications at this point.

Now 18 months into the role and I achieved a big milestone: Salesforce Certified Application Architect. At this point, I set my ultimate objective: Salesforce Technical Architect, the pinnacle of Salesforce Certification which less than 250 people worldwide have managed to achieve.

4C are currently supporting me on this journey by supplementing me with training material, complex projects and flexibility with work in order to complete the prerequisites for the Salesforce Technical Architect Review Board.

The Leadership team enables personal growth

They themselves are a great example of the meritocracy that is 4C, with many of them having risen through numerous positions in the company. The result is: leaders who truly understand the business and care hugely for its success. The organic growth model – preferring to promote from within wherever possible – has served the company well, and I think I’m a great example of somebody who has benefitted from this model.

I genuinely love what I do now

That’s very largely down to the great people I work with every day. I was given the tools I needed to learn quickly, the space to learn in the way I wanted to, and the encouragement I needed when the learning curve felt frustrating.

I think the reason I’ve been able to learn so much, so quickly, is that everyone is a teacher at 4C, regardless of their level and experience. When you’re surrounded by that culture it really motivates you to push yourself. 4C is now the largest independent Salesforce consultancy in Europe, and continuing to grow. This will bring about many more opportunities for people like me.

Where could you be in 18 months?

Like many other growing firms, we are always on the lookout for new and hard-working individuals to join our team. The main areas we recruit into are:

Professional Services: if you’re an experienced consultant who likes end-end greenfield implementations.

Managed Services: if you’re an experienced consultant interested in technology transformation and development of long term relationships with clients.

Support Services: if you have no experience in Salesforce but want to get your foot on the ladder.

Software Development: if you’ve dabbled in programming and you want to learn how to apply that to Salesforce.